The Kweendom of Abstraction

natural_hair

One of my biggest issues with my own kind (meaning people of color who also happen to be of the female persuasion) …is that natural hair shit.

I’ve been natural for about 2 1/2 yrs. I did put a texturizer in a few weeks ago, but it looks like nothing happened. My hair is quite disrespectful!! LOL

Either way, My reasoning behind being natural stemmed more from these following things, than a movement of African pride:

~ When I DID relax my hair…it was 2 times a year…tops. That’s not good because it can cause breakage.~ I hated getting scabs from the burning sensation. I’m QUITE tender-headed and couldn’t take it.~ I wanted to see if I could get a varied sense of styling options (even though, my hair has been hard to tame. I’ve taken to co-washing, but the truth is…my hair never held many styles…even while relaxed.) I wanted to see what my hair texture was capable of.~ I don’t know if I’m developing arthritis or carpal tunnel…but, I just know it’s getting increasingly hard to comb all of my hair. I lose at least 20 minutes in the morning on a bad day behind the frustration.

I don’t NEED anyone to tell me how relaxers affect the brain and blood (do research on why it is doctors suggest pregnant women don’t relax their hair during pregnancy.) I don’t need anyone to remind me of my heritage.

S/N: What the hell does that mean ANYWAY? I mean…if I chose my mom as my “hair model” rather than a white woman…my hair would still be “good” O_O because my mom is mixed. So…it’s ignorant to decide for the entire race that Black hair is assumed to be happily nappy. We have all kinds of genes swirling in our DNA pools and therefore, no one can determine what trait a child will come out with nor what grade of hair they’ll have.

Anyway…I’m tired of all of the harping on how one who decides to relax, straighten, etc…is “giving up” on her natural self. I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive. I know some loc’d and afro’ed folks who could take a lesson in our cultural history. I some “naturalistas” who don’t date within their own race and prefer to date non-black men. Wouldn’t someone who puts such stock in her natural hair and heritage want to marry and procreate with someone who shares her skin color and kinky hair? Right…go ahead, think on that…

How does someone feel they have a right to police my hair? Women get up in arms about anyone being up in their uterus! Don’t police my babies! Don’t police what violates my body! Don’t police my weight! Don’t police my skin color!! These are all of the things that women all over have a tendency to feel passionate about…yet, a lot of the same [Black] women feel the right to tell another sista about how natural she ISN’T, how Black she AIN’T, how weak she IS…just because she chooses to wear weaves, relax or flat-iron her hair…or GOD FORBID…shave it off.

btw…why ISN’T it as a big a deal to women to see a Black sista with a bald head or a low cut, yet they get up in arms about the processing of hair? Couldn’t someone assume that a person who never allows their own hair to grow past a certain length ..or at all…may have some kind of aversion to her own hair texture? Translation: Self-Hate/Hair Hate?

Right…think on that one, too. Get back to me when that makes sense. I hate to blog this shit again, but it’s just THAT much of a pain in my ass…quit it already.

In the meantime…if I decided to wear a fro or a bone-straight style…I’m still a beautiful woman of color. Proud of who she is…but, not allowing ANY one to define her.